Book Review: The Porpoise by Mark Haddon

About:

The Porpoise by Mark Haddon is a novel following three stories in different time periods, all with a common narrative.  Mr. Haddon is an award winning English novelist.

• 320 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Language: English
• ISBN-10 : 0385544316

My rating for The Porpoise – 5
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More Books by Mark Haddon*

Thoughts:

According to the snippets I’ve read, The Porpoise by Mark Haddon is supposed to be a reworking of the story of Appolonius and  of William Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Since I didn’t read either of those works, I don’t have the background to say whether or not the author hits his mark, but I certainly enjoyed the book.

This book should be read carefully and with attention, the author constructed the book in a very clever way which is easy to miss in an unconventional way. This is still, however, a strange book, it starts out very interesting, than to a point where you consider whether you want to even finish reading it, and by the end you’re hooked and enjoying the journey.

Frankly, I’m not sure I understood everything the author meant to for me to understand, but in enjoyed the writing and the plot.  There is tragedy, justice, revenge and retribution all seen from a modern day perspective and a twist. The multiple narratives sometimes left me wondering what’s happening, but I quickly caught on.

This is a good book, but an uncomfortable, dark, read, as much as it is rich and beautiful narrative. You can skip the disturbing parts (even though they aren’t very graphic) without losing any of the impact.

Synopsis:

Maja, a famous actress, died in a horrible plane crush which only Angelica survived as she had to be cut out of her mother’s womb. Angelica’s father, Phillipe, is rich and powerful, as she grows up he starts abusing Angelica, locking her out of society. To cope, the poor girl starts reading literature, preferring the old stories. A young man tries to rescue Angelica, but due to a terrible incident she closes herself off completely to the outside world, merging her reality with the stories she read.

The narrative than changes to different worlds, which just manage to, maybe, touch one another but then pull back.

Buy The Porpoise from Amazon.com*
More Books by Mark Haddon*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account